Sunday, September 27, 2009

MOVE OVER, KETCHUP AND SALSA-- PERUVIAN GREEN SAUCE IS "THE BOMB"!

A squeeze bottle with my homemade Peruvian restaurant-style green sauce.This sauce is positively addictive!
A reader has started somewhat of a revolution in my house, and I think it's happening elsewhere. "Quizeen" asked about "a particular green-colored sauce served at every Peruvian restaurant I've ever been to in Southern California." She goes on: "At each of these restaurants they serve a pale green, light sauce in a squeeze bottle. I always get a Peruvian-style vegetable stir-fry and load it up thoroughly with this sauce. I've begged and pleaded with every server I've ever encountered to tell me what's in the sauce or even what it's called. They never spill the ingredients and the only name they'll give me is "aji," which just means "pepper." The sauce is pale green/white, very thin, isn't particularly spicy and might have cucumber blended in it, but that's just wild speculation. I will be eternally grateful to anyone who can shed some light on this magnificent condiment."

Now, I knew what that Peruvian stir-fry was-- Lomo Saltado, more than likely. My father was Peruvian and I have "veganized" that dish and quite a few other Peruvian dishes for my newsletter and for various workshops that I've given.(Update: The Lomo Saltado recipe [and quite a few other Peruvian dishes as well] is in my book World Vegan Feast, under the name "Peruvian Stir-Fry".)But this green sauce was news to me and I just had to find out what it was! I have been housebound due to a bad cold for the last few days, so I have occupied myself with researching this "mystery green sauce" or "magical green sauce", as I was subsequently heard it referred to.

How could I have missed this sauce? Well, after much research, I believe that it is simply because I don't live in a place where Peruvian restaurants are common, such as SoCal and Miami. But I'm getting ahead of myself!

I have discovered that one of the possible origins of this green sauce is a sauce consisting of the leaves of the Andean herb huacatay, vinegar, salt, peppers, and sometimes oil.

"Huacatay (Tagetes minuta), is a native Peruvian herb related to marigold and tarragon, has a pungent aroma somewhere between mint and basil. Among thousands of native herbs, huacatay has given Peruvian seasoning its unique zest from Incan to contemporary times.

... Because this herb has such a special flavor, there really is no substitute, though a combination of mint and coriander comes closest."
From: Field Guide to Herbs & Spices, by Aliza Green

Huacatay, if you can find it, is rarely sold fresh in North American, but I understand that the leaves are available in some Latin American grocery stores, either frozen, dried, or in a paste form in jars.

I found some recipes online for "Peruvian Aji Sauce" that were described as similar to those found in Peruvian restaurants in North America (aji means pepper, BTW). Most were variations on a theme-- lettuce, mayonnaise, jalapeño peppers, cilantro, and garlic were the main ingredients. It seemed that inventive expatriate Peruvian cooks were using lettuce leaves and cilantro for the huacatay herb and jalapeño peppers instead of the fresh Peruvian yellow peppers ( aji amarillo). But mayonnaise? Well, that was explained with a little more digging. Although many of the traditional huacatay sauce recipes I encountered were very simple mixtures of the herb with vinegar, peppers, and salt, a few of them instructed the cook to whip in oil as if you were making mayonnaise, resulting in a creamy sauce-- a-ha! And, it must be noted that Peruvians are very fond of mayonnaise-y things!

To further confuse me, though, I then encountered comments and recipes by some Peruvians stating that green sauce should contain evaporated milk (or cream) and queso fresco! This didn't sound to me like something you'd leave on restaurant tables in a squeeze bottle-- it would need to be kept refrigerated. But several posters insisted that this was the authentic green sauce. Hmmmmm...more digging. After some Web research and perusing (not to make a pun) the few Peruvian cookbooks that I own, I have come to the conclusion that this is a different sauce altogether-- derivatives of a sauce used on a dish called Ocopa a la Arequipena, a potato dish with a creamy pepper sauce made with evaporated milk (or cream) and cheese (queso fresco), huacatay, and often peanuts or walnuts. Here is an example of such a recipe.

So, my opinion is that the Peruvian Green Sauce served in North American restaurants as a table condiment, usually in a squeeze bottle, is a slightly Americanized version of the Huacatay Sauce that is emulsified with oil to make it creamy. Mayonnaise is used instead of oil as a shortcut, jalapeño peppers are used when Peruvian yellow peppers (aji amarillo) cannot be found, and cilantro and lettuce are used in place of the hard-to-obtain huacatay. The result may not be absolutely authentic, but it stands on its own as a delicious condiment!

I once got a lecture from a Peruvian about some of the substitute ingredients I was using in a Peruvian dish. But, in my opinion, one should not let the inability to get the EXACT ingredients deter you from making ethnic foods. Immigrants have always had to "make do" and be creative when they settle in new countries. Immigrant populations who came to Peru also had to do just that-- witness the interesting Chinese/Peruvian cuisine, which mixes Cantonese Chinese cuisine with local Peruvian flavors. (" Chifa [from the Mandarin words 吃飯 "chi fan", meaning "to eat food"] is the Peruvian term for Chinese food, or for a Chinese restaurant. In the 150 years since its arrival in Peru, the Chinese Peruvian culture has revolutionized Peruvian cuisine, gaining international recognition from those who have had the opportunity to sample it while visiting Peru. Chifa reflects a fusion by Chinese Peruvians of the products that the Chinese brought with them to those that they found in Peru, and later cultivated themselves." From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_cuisine#El_Chifa )

Anyway, I came up with a vegan version of this sauce that we LOVE! I would like to make it with Peruvian yellow peppers and huacatay when I can find those ingredients. My next foray to Vancouver, perhaps...? UPDATE: I did find aji amarillo paste and huacatay paste on my last trip to Vancouver, at the Killarney Market (sounds like an odd place to find Peruvian ingredients, but they have a great selection of Latin American foods!). I'm going to try to grow some huacatay one of these days. I don't know where to get the seeds in Canada yet, but you can get them online in the US here (from Oregon). It should be possible to grow aji amarillo, too. (For Canadians, this Quebec seed company carries them.)

We loved the green sauce on sweet potato oven-fries, and also on veggie burgers and even tomato sandwiches! It is used as a dip for bread and yucca fries in Peruvian restaurants, too. It's pretty addictive! (But, my recipe has negligible fat and calories, so who cares?)The Green Sauce was delicious on Camote Frito-- Sweet potato "Fries" (oven-fried!-- recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Cut the sweet potatoes into 1/8" thick wedges, like French fries (or use a French fry cutter). Place the "fries" on two nonstick or lightly-oiled cookie sheets. Spray lightly with oil from a pump-sprayer and toss to coat.

Bake for 5-7 minutes, then turn over and bake 5-7 minutes longer, or until light golden and crispy outside and soft in the middle. Sprinkle with coarse salt and serve hot.

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THE PERUVIAN GREEN SAUCE, UPDATED RECIPE: (I updated the recipe when I found a source of huacatay paste and aji amarilloin Vancouver.)

NOTE: If you have the opportunity to use the fresh herb huacatay instead of the paste, or cilantro and mint, I'm afraid you're on your own in regards to how much, because I haven't been able to try it. I would assume that you would leave out all or some of the lettuce, as well as the cilantro and mint, but it will take some experimenting. Any of the recipes that were remotely like this one (i.e.: creamy) did not specify how much huacatay to use-- maddening! I would perhaps start with 1 cup of the leaves (fresh) or 1/3 cup dried. If you used dried huacatay, I am imagining that some lettuce would be a good idea, too.

In this recipe, I have given you the option of using dried herbs, which is what I did the first time I made it because I didn't have any fresh and could not justify going off-island on the ferry just for that.

Process all of the ingredients together in a blender or food processor until the mixture is smooth. The color should be bright green. Scrape into a jar with a tight lid, or a food-safe plastic squeeze bottle used for sauces and condiments.

Serve with bread or meat subs; with chips, fries and oven-fries of all sorts; on sandwiches and tacos; etc..

That was fun to read! I also think it's funny when people get all up-in-arms about authenticity. In a restaurant that boast "authentic cuisine", of course it should be, but at home we can certainly use what we've got.

Wow, what a research! I blogged about this sauce after visiting a Peruvian restaurant in Anaheim, CA, El Misti. http://spiceislandvegan.blogspot.com/2009/03/el-misti-peruvian-restaurant-with-vegan.html

I did have a conversation about the green sauce with the owner and then he went back (outside) of his restaurant and came back with the fresh mint called Huacatay. He grew this mint on the back of this restaurant. This herb smells good. He uses it in his green sauce and said there is no mayonnaise in it but olive oil that is beat until creamy. He won't tell me what are all in it but there are lots of garlic in it. It's a good idea to grow Huacatay!The restaurant uses this herb on the rice on other sauces too. It 's quite a distinct flavor.I will try your recipe and will let you know.

Thanks for the recipe! I was in Peru twice in spring 2009 and remember having some kind of a green sauce that I liked very much,maybe it was similar to yours...I loved Lima and went often to eat in those Chifa restaurants, great food!

Bryanna- Thanks for opening up new culinary horizons! I haven't delved into Peruvian cuisine yet, but I'm ALWAYS looking for new additions to the herb garden. Looked up Tagetes minuta (Mexican marigold) and www.horizonherbs.com (from which I've ordered before) also carries seeds, so I will be ordering tomorrow. Since cilantro is so persnickety in our Mid-Atlantic climate, I'm wondering if T. minuta might be a substitute here in dishes calling for cilantro...

We just returned from Peru and I have several ounces of the huacatay leaves. I've been reading various recipes for Peruvian green sauce that mostly have mayo or cheese in them. We, however, had a green sauce in Peru that was just oil and green which the waiters said was made with fresh huacatay. What would this sauce be called? No mayo, no cheese, just green with oil and absolutely delicious.

Lexy Marin, here is a very simple recipe which has no cheese and gives you the option of using oil and no mayonnaise: http://www.food.com/recipe/aji-verde-peruvian-green-chili-sauce-363714I would use aji amarillo instead of the jalapenos, though. I hope this helps!

ABOUT MISSING PHOTOS ON OLDER BLOG POSTS:

If you are wondering what happened to the photos on my older blog posts, here's the deal: I used to use Photobucket to store my photos and uploaded them to my blog posts from there. Since about 2012, I have uploaded pics from my computer files instead. All of a sudden, Photobucket is demanding $39 a month for storage and you can't download pictures to blogs or other sites unless you pay that. I find that fee outrageous (and I'm not the only one!). UPDATE: I discovered that I could upload albums from from PB to my computer (or external hard drive). So, I have done that, but it took a couple of days. Now I just have to locate the correct pictures for the old blogs! One step at a time. My apologies... please bear with me! BCG

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